Abstract: Using passive radar with Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) waveform for target track and location is recently a research spot at home and abroad. This paper first introduces the signal model for passive radar with OFDM waveform and key techniques during the signal processing. On that basis, how the estimation error of carrier frequency offset influences the detection performance of this radar is mainly investigated through simulation from different aspects, including the influences on target parameter estimation after match filtering, clutter rejection performance and bit error rate during reference signal reconstruction. The simulation results show that different temporal clutter rejection methods require different estimation accuracy of carrier frequency offset. The reconstruction bit error rate has a great impact on the temporal clutter rejection performance while having a little effect on match filtering. Finally, the analysis results are verified based on the measurement data.